Need a new system for Vegas - any suggestions?

Jeff Harper · December 4th, 2008, 12:47 AM

Actually it is interesting thast you mention your laptop, because it was working on laptops (with the slow drives they tend to have) I was thinking of at the time I mentioned 5400 RPM drives. Dreadful working with them after being used to the desktop unit.

On the other hand you previously made the point you that most of us are using 7200 RPM drives and for most purposes they will suffice. And they will.

On the other hand there is a point of diminishing returns. I notice little difference running the new Velociraptors in RAID 0 vs non-Raid and I don't even run RAID any longer so as to have the additonal storage space. Additionally, the RAID controllers on my MOBO seem to be full of issues. I never experienced problems with RAID until I moved to integrated controllers during my last two PCs.

John Cline · December 4th, 2008, 06:49 PM

I have a few laptops and each of them has relatively zippy 7200 rpm drives. However, with the advent of perpendicular recording on new hard drives, which seriously increases the areal density and how much data is moving under the heads at a given rpm, even 5400 rpm drives these days can be significantly faster than an old longitudinal technology drive. There is also the whole issue of access time, which is where the Raptor, Velicoraptor and certain SCSI drives really excel. They can initially get to the data fast and, from that point, sustain a fairly high data rate. The Seagate 1.5TB drive has a higher sustained transfer rate than virtually anyting else available, due to its higher areal density, but its access times don't come anywhere near a WD Velicoraptor.

David Delaney · March 10th, 2009, 06:20 AM

I am thinking about the Q8200 now because it is on sale. Most are saying it is the little brother to the Q6600, but I wonder for video editing (which I won't be OC'ing) if the price is right for the job?

Jeff Harper · March 10th, 2009, 08:01 AM

David, you don't mention what the job is. If you are editing only SD, it should be fine, but if you have any plans to move into HD it would be an unwise expenditure, IMO.

If your MOBO would accomodate a quad core chip I see them on sale for under $200, which would not be a bad deal, but again if you're moving into HD I would hold off for the newer chips.

BTW, the links in your signature are not functioning this morning.

David Delaney · March 10th, 2009, 08:14 PM

Right now I have a Asus p5Q-E motherboard with 8 gig of RAM ready for a processor. I have used HD with my old 5000+ BE AMD without any problems so I am assuming it can only get better.
I will be continuing to use HD and DV in the future, depending on the project. I honestly hate the render times more than anything else.
When I have researched the Q6600, most people were using it for GAMES and therefore there opinion was based on that. I did see a comparison of the Q8200 and the Q6600 and most people were complaining that the Q8200 didn't overclock as well - but again that was for games.
I will be using Vegas and some visual effects programs like AE in the future. I don't want to go the DDR3 route considering I have some much of DDR2 to be used. The i7 looks nice, but I think when building that system , I won't be able to cannibalize the parts I already have...

Jeff Harper · March 10th, 2009, 08:41 PM

Your right, with the i7 you'd need a processor, MOBO and Ram, and possibly new PSU you (should have about 700-900w PSU) It is expensive...at least I found it so.

i7 renders a 60 minute project in about 12-14 minutes, and HD renders to 16:9 SD in about 50% of the length of the project, which is main reason I bought it.

The Q6600 renders 60 minute SD project in less than 30 minutes, so for SD the Q6600 is a great deal, but for HD still inadequate if you have to turn out videos quickly. If you don't have a lot of tight deadlines, the q6600 would be good even for HD, especially if you used Gearshift or NeoScene.

It's tough balancing needs/want vs checkbook, isn't it? I'm still feeling the sting of the cost of my upgrade.

David Delaney · April 4th, 2009, 08:27 AM

Something I haven't touched on is FSB & L2 cache- how is that going to factor in? I know on the Q6700 and the Q6600 have 1066mhz with 8meg L2 cache while the Q8200 has 1333mhz but with only 4MB of L2 cache.
Part of the issue is that I am going to be using this computer for editing HD with Vegas, but I am also going to be doing some compositing software as well.
The Q8200 doesn't burn as hot either and is cheaper, but with that, am I getting what I pay for?

Dale Guthormsen · April 4th, 2009, 09:29 AM

David,

Right now costco has an HP with a I7 920 processor, and two hot swapable bays for around 1100 dollars.

Wish I had seen it before I bought my Dell xps work station (which is now working perfectly, but was a pain for several weeks).

By the time you canibalize parts and all that, I wonder how much you will actually save, and then you are going to be yearning to upgrade way to soon!!

As Jeff pointed out it is kind of a trade offs situation.

If you are going to be doing compositing with after effects the I7 with 6 or more gigs of ram will be a huge asset!!

David Delaney · April 4th, 2009, 10:25 AM

Thanks for that, but I think that is USD pricing - so that adds a huge amount to my budget. And since I have already purchased 8 gigs of DDR2 RAM, a P5Q motherboard, it would be throwing away 300+ dollars to get a complete upgrade. Yeah, I know, I should just bite the bullet, but putting money into computers is a lot harder in this economic climate...

Dale Guthormsen · April 4th, 2009, 12:03 PM

David,

Here in Sask. At cosco it was 1400 dollars.

Dale Guthormsen · April 4th, 2009, 12:11 PM

ignore this accident

David Delaney · April 4th, 2009, 12:15 PM

Yeah, $1400 is a-l-o-t of money for me. I can't justify it right now.

David Delaney · April 18th, 2009, 10:06 AM

Finally purchased the Q6600 CPU. All is working well, now just have to install VISTA on the system and see what the 8gig of RAM can do.
My idling temperature with the STOCK INTEL fan is 35, does that sound ok?

April 4th, 2009, 09:29 AM	#38
Dale Guthormsen Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Saskatchewan Posts: 3,048	David, Right now costco has an HP with a I7 920 processor, and two hot swapable bays for around 1100 dollars. Wish I had seen it before I bought my Dell xps work station (which is now working perfectly, but was a pain for several weeks). By the time you canibalize parts and all that, I wonder how much you will actually save, and then you are going to be yearning to upgrade way to soon!! As Jeff pointed out it is kind of a trade offs situation. If you are going to be doing compositing with after effects the I7 with 6 or more gigs of ram will be a huge asset!! __________________ DATS ALL FOLKS Dale W. Guthormsen

April 4th, 2009, 12:03 PM	#40
Dale Guthormsen Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Saskatchewan Posts: 3,048	David, Here in Sask. At cosco it was 1400 dollars. __________________ DATS ALL FOLKS Dale W. Guthormsen

April 4th, 2009, 12:11 PM	#41
Dale Guthormsen Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Saskatchewan Posts: 3,048	bl ray/ DV ARC ?? ignore this accident __________________ DATS ALL FOLKS Dale W. Guthormsen

December 4th, 2008, 12:47 AM	#31
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	Actually it is interesting thast you mention your laptop, because it was working on laptops (with the slow drives they tend to have) I was thinking of at the time I mentioned 5400 RPM drives. Dreadful working with them after being used to the desktop unit. On the other hand you previously made the point you that most of us are using 7200 RPM drives and for most purposes they will suffice. And they will. On the other hand there is a point of diminishing returns. I notice little difference running the new Velociraptors in RAID 0 vs non-Raid and I don't even run RAID any longer so as to have the additonal storage space. Additionally, the RAID controllers on my MOBO seem to be full of issues. I never experienced problems with RAID until I moved to integrated controllers during my last two PCs.

December 4th, 2008, 06:49 PM	#32
John Cline Major Player Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico USA Posts: 333	I have a few laptops and each of them has relatively zippy 7200 rpm drives. However, with the advent of perpendicular recording on new hard drives, which seriously increases the areal density and how much data is moving under the heads at a given rpm, even 5400 rpm drives these days can be significantly faster than an old longitudinal technology drive. There is also the whole issue of access time, which is where the Raptor, Velicoraptor and certain SCSI drives really excel. They can initially get to the data fast and, from that point, sustain a fairly high data rate. The Seagate 1.5TB drive has a higher sustained transfer rate than virtually anyting else available, due to its higher areal density, but its access times don't come anywhere near a WD Velicoraptor.

March 10th, 2009, 06:20 AM	#33
David Delaney Trustee Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Niagara Ontario Canada Posts: 1,121	I am thinking about the Q8200 now because it is on sale. Most are saying it is the little brother to the Q6600, but I wonder for video editing (which I won't be OC'ing) if the price is right for the job?

March 10th, 2009, 08:01 AM	#34
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	David, you don't mention what the job is. If you are editing only SD, it should be fine, but if you have any plans to move into HD it would be an unwise expenditure, IMO. If your MOBO would accomodate a quad core chip I see them on sale for under $200, which would not be a bad deal, but again if you're moving into HD I would hold off for the newer chips. BTW, the links in your signature are not functioning this morning.

March 10th, 2009, 08:14 PM	#35
David Delaney Trustee Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Niagara Ontario Canada Posts: 1,121	Right now I have a Asus p5Q-E motherboard with 8 gig of RAM ready for a processor. I have used HD with my old 5000+ BE AMD without any problems so I am assuming it can only get better. I will be continuing to use HD and DV in the future, depending on the project. I honestly hate the render times more than anything else. When I have researched the Q6600, most people were using it for GAMES and therefore there opinion was based on that. I did see a comparison of the Q8200 and the Q6600 and most people were complaining that the Q8200 didn't overclock as well - but again that was for games. I will be using Vegas and some visual effects programs like AE in the future. I don't want to go the DDR3 route considering I have some much of DDR2 to be used. The i7 looks nice, but I think when building that system , I won't be able to cannibalize the parts I already have...

March 10th, 2009, 08:41 PM	#36
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	Your right, with the i7 you'd need a processor, MOBO and Ram, and possibly new PSU you (should have about 700-900w PSU) It is expensive...at least I found it so. i7 renders a 60 minute project in about 12-14 minutes, and HD renders to 16:9 SD in about 50% of the length of the project, which is main reason I bought it. The Q6600 renders 60 minute SD project in less than 30 minutes, so for SD the Q6600 is a great deal, but for HD still inadequate if you have to turn out videos quickly. If you don't have a lot of tight deadlines, the q6600 would be good even for HD, especially if you used Gearshift or NeoScene. It's tough balancing needs/want vs checkbook, isn't it? I'm still feeling the sting of the cost of my upgrade.

April 4th, 2009, 08:27 AM	#37
David Delaney Trustee Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Niagara Ontario Canada Posts: 1,121	Something I haven't touched on is FSB & L2 cache- how is that going to factor in? I know on the Q6700 and the Q6600 have 1066mhz with 8meg L2 cache while the Q8200 has 1333mhz but with only 4MB of L2 cache. Part of the issue is that I am going to be using this computer for editing HD with Vegas, but I am also going to be doing some compositing software as well. The Q8200 doesn't burn as hot either and is cheaper, but with that, am I getting what I pay for?

April 4th, 2009, 10:25 AM	#39
David Delaney Trustee Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Niagara Ontario Canada Posts: 1,121	Thanks for that, but I think that is USD pricing - so that adds a huge amount to my budget. And since I have already purchased 8 gigs of DDR2 RAM, a P5Q motherboard, it would be throwing away 300+ dollars to get a complete upgrade. Yeah, I know, I should just bite the bullet, but putting money into computers is a lot harder in this economic climate...

April 4th, 2009, 12:15 PM	#42
David Delaney Trustee Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Niagara Ontario Canada Posts: 1,121	Yeah, $1400 is a-l-o-t of money for me. I can't justify it right now.

April 18th, 2009, 10:06 AM	#43
David Delaney Trustee Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Niagara Ontario Canada Posts: 1,121	Finally purchased the Q6600 CPU. All is working well, now just have to install VISTA on the system and see what the 8gig of RAM can do. My idling temperature with the STOCK INTEL fan is 35, does that sound ok?